DOUBLE-HEADER FOR SAN FRANCISCO AND THE
THOMASHEFSKY'S

By Joel Kasow

NEW YORK, 26 APRIL 2012  Michael Tilson Thomas has astonished
audiences since his early years  Im thinking of his first appearances
with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the late 1960s and early espousal of
a wide range of music, evidence of which can be found on several record
labels. PBSs telecast, currently airing across the United
States (check PBS local listings), of a gala concert given
to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the San Francisco Orchestra
demonstrates the conductors enthusiasm that has not waned over the years.
Tribute is paid not only to Aaron Copland (Suite from Billy the
Kid) and Benjamin Britten (Young Persons Guide to the
Orchestra) but also to exceptional soloists playing pillars of the
concerto repertoire: Itzhak Perlman in Mendelssohn and Lang Lang in Liszt.
The filming allows us to see the conductors total confidence in his
musicians as he allows them interpretative latitude, while the violinist
and pianist ensure audience respect and pleasure. An encore shows once
again Thomass loyalty to a local musician as he leads John Adamss
exhilarating Short Ride in a Fast Machine. Amy Tan is on hand to
provide background narration of the orchestra and its accomplishments. I
only wish that the cameraman had not spent so much time on a gum-chewing
man when he panned the audience.

Another side of the conductors life and heritage can be viewed in
The Thomashefskys: Music and Memories of a Life in the Yiddish
Theater. Thomass grandparents were pioneers in the domain, bringing
excitement and color to an immigrant population that with assimilation
would eventually patronize more traditional theatrical forms. Thomas
speaks of his grandmother with warmth and admiration (his grandfather died
before Thomas was born) and the performance by Judy Blazer tries to
capture the charisma of the inimitable Bessie with reasonable success.
Schuler Henleys Boris conveys the animal charm that rendered him so
irresistible. Ronit Widmann-Levy and Eugene Brancoveanu give us a wide
range of characters, but it is Brancoveanus mellow baritone that sticks
in the memory. The conductor even allows himself a song, while Thomass
other orchestra, the New World Symphony, has fun with many musical voices
that make up the program. But it is the descriptions of that distant world
that interest us and here Thomas has put together a fascinating glimpse
into the past.